Turkey Bombs PKK in Iraq and Syria: 12 Turkish Soldiers Killed
Nuray Lydia Oglu, Sawako Utsumi, and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
The armed forces of Turkey (Turkiye) unleashed military air strikes against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Iraq and Syria – after the recent deaths of 12 Turkish soldiers.
Accordingly, Turkey conducted air strikes by hitting many PKK positions. This includes the targeting of PKK bases, facilities of oil that the PKK utilizes, bunkers, and other targets.
The Hurriyet Daily reports, “The ministry’s statement emphasized the objective of eliminating the potential for terrorist attacks against Türkiye and its security forces, asserting the country’s legitimate self-defense rights as outlined in Article 51 of the U.N. Charter.”
Medya News reports, “The People’s Defence Forces (HPG), the military wing of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), claims to have inflicted significant Turkish military casualties in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, particularly in the Kuro Jahro and Girê Amediyê areas.”
Turkey – a NATO member – occupies North Cyprus and parts of North Syria. Also, under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey, this nation is expansionist in furthering pan-Turkism. Therefore, Turkey meddled against Armenian Christians in Nagorno-Karabakh by supporting Azerbaijan.
Voice of America reports, “Turkey regularly carries out airstrikes in northern Iraq and has sent commandos to support its offensives as part of a long-running campaign in Iraq and Syria against militants of the Kurdish PKK and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia. Ankara regards both as terrorist groups.”
It seems likely that the conflict between Turkey and the Kurds – internally and externally – will continue for the foreseeable future. Especially with Iraq and Syria being destabilized in recent times by a collection of forces, including the role of Turkey against Syria.
The Kurdish Question – unlike the Palestinian Question – gets limited attention internationally. However, the Kurds are the most populous stateless people in West Asia.
The International Crisis Group says, “Türkiye has increasingly relied on its airpower, including armed drones, to push back against the PKK and its affiliates.”
It remains to be seen if the Kurds will seek to utilize drones to a level similar to opposition forces in Myanmar.
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